Bird.com secured $450 million in debt financing, led by J.P. Morgan. Seven banks were involved in the deal, including Capital One and Citi. The financial structure comprises a $400 million term loan and a $50 million revolving credit facility. Bird structured this transaction as a dividend recapitalization.
This financing provides liquidity to existing shareholders of Bird, as well as current and former employees who hold shares in the company. Bird clarified that the funds are not intended for growth expenditures; instead, the deal allows shareholders to receive liquidity without the need for a new round of equity financing.
In 2025, the company reported an EBITDA of $165 million and continued to automate business processes. Furthermore, Bird introduced the updated Agentic Harness platform. This system enables AI agents to directly utilize Bird's communication infrastructure.
Through this platform, agents can send messages and make calls. They are also capable of managing email and provisioning eSIM tariffs within the Bird network. The platform eliminates manual operations in many communication workflows, removing the need for developers to create custom integrations for every operational task.
Bird stated that agents can independently create, update, and manage information across various company systems. They can also handle communication discrepancies between countries and service providers. The platform supports numerous large artificial intelligence models, offering clients greater flexibility when developing agent applications.
Bird provides infrastructure for channels such as email, SMS, WhatsApp, voice, and RCS, supporting enterprises in over 150 countries. Through extensive automation, the company has reduced its workforce. Founder Robert Wise noted that the automation was designed to boost productivity, and staff reductions followed these operational changes. The company also announced price reductions on some communication channels, with some channels now being 90% cheaper than competitors.
Bird's transformation aligns with a strategic shift towards the US market and the positioning of its infrastructure around the growing agent economy. Wise emphasized that the business demonstrates how automation can support a leaner operating structure. He also highlighted the scale of Bird's communication infrastructure. The company was founded by Robert Wise in 2011 and was previously named MessageBird.
J.P. Morgan characterized the deal as a response to the growing demand for AI agents. Bird is positioning its infrastructure for this shift, allowing agents to connect with customers, send notifications, manage mailboxes, and make calls, thereby creating demand for systems that connect agents to real communication channels. Bird aims to meet this need as adoption continues to grow.
J.P. Morgan acted as the lead arranger and administrative agent for the financing. Capital One and Citi took positions as co-lead arrangers and co-bookrunners. Silicon Valley Bank, MUFG, Flagstar, and Huntington were included in the creditor syndicate. The debt financing allows for liquidity provision without establishing a new equity valuation. Bird uses this structure to return capital to existing shareholders and employees. Previously, the company raised significant equity financing during its growth phase, including $240 million in 2020, which valued Bird at $3 billion. Now, Bird enters a new phase of development, combining automation with AI-focused communication infrastructure.